Guidelines for applying to a Venture Sharks:

The goal of Venture Sharks is to support early-stage companies and/or entrepreneurs. Here are the criteria for competitors:

Location, Industry: The competition is open to businesses or entrepreneurs from any industry in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee, but presentations for the preliminary and final rounds of competition must be made in person, in Louisville, KY.

Business Establishment: A dedicated LLC or corporation need not have been created, but the idea and business being pitched must not be a direct spinout from a larger parent company. (We expect the parent company to fund this, not Venture Sharks.)

Age: No restriction on age of the business.

Revenue: The business must have less than $75,000 of lifetime revenue.

Capitalization: The business cannot have raised, or had invested in it, more than $50,000 in equity-based funding. Grant funding is excluded from this amount.

Use of Proceeds: The winner agrees to use both the cash award and the in-kind services to directly pursue the business opportunity presented in the competition.

Judging Criteria: At both the preliminary and final competitions, winners will be selected based on the viability of their idea as a business, the ability of the final award to positively impact the business, and the quality of their presentation.

Details of competing:

Both the preliminary Venture Sharks round and the final Venture Sharks round will follow the same basic format.

Presenters will be allowed about 4 minutes to pitch your idea to the judges. Time limits are strictly enforced.

If you have business partners you may present together if you wish, but you'll have to share a microphone.

You may use props or a product demonstration if you choose to, but no PowerPoint slides can be used.

After your presentations, you'll have a short 4 minute question and answer period with judges panel.